The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and printing method which moves a printing head to a printing medium.
Conventionally, in a serial-type printer which performs printing by scanning a printing head in the main scanning direction, and by moving a recording medium such as a recording paper in the sub-scanning direction, printing is performed by moving a carriage mounting the printing head by a carriage motor. In this case, the printing is performed in synchronism with the moving of the carriage while a position of the carriage is being detected by an encoder. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the position relationship between the printing area of the printing apparatus and the carriage moving range in the main scanning direction (speed, range in the main scanning direction). In the printing area, the carriage moves at a constant speed in the printing area, and an acceleration area and deceleration area are respectively provided before and after the printing area for acceleration and deceleration based on the characteristic of the carriage motor.
Accordingly, in the conventional printer apparatus, since the acceleration/deceleration area needs to be provided on the both sides of the printing area, the total scanning distance of the carriage in the main scanning direction becomes longer than the length in the printing area. Accordingly, a problem arises in that the apparatus become large in size. Particularly, in a color printing apparatus having a plurality of printing heads in the main scanning direction and a cartridge containing ink used for printing, not only the moving distance of the carriage becomes longer, but also the acceleration area to accelerate the carriage speed to a predetermined speed and the deceleration area to decelerate and suspend the carriage movement need to be longer due to the increase of the carriage weight. Accordingly, the length of the carriage scanning direction becomes longer, and this is a main problem in minimizing the entire apparatus in size.